There’s lots of scope to Twitter. Even cows in Windsor Ontario are getting into it. Story thanks to Warren Cosfords list.
http://www.windsorstar.com/Woodstock+cows+tweet+Twitter/2674781/story.html
What if your skin could serve as an interactive surface? Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft have produced Skinput, an experimental device that turns the body’s largest organ into a touch screen.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10462255-1.html
Station of the Year – CHR Virgin Radio 99.9 Toronto
Station of the Year – Hot AC CHUM FM Toronto
Station of the Year – Mainstream AC 89.1 CHFI Toronto
Station of the Year – Classic GOld Q107 Toronto
Station of the Year – Country Country 105, Calgary
Station of the Year – Medium Market Q104, Halifax
Station of the Year – Small Market 99.9 Sun FM Kelowna
Station of the Year – Multicultural 101.7 World FM Edmonton
Station of the Year – News/Talk/Sports 680 News Toronto
Station of the Year – Rock Sonic 102.9 Edmonton
The general feeling coming from most of the panels I have attanded could be best described as cautiously optmistic. “Remember the windsheld is larger than the rear view mirror, so focus on the future and not the past” was a comment from Fred Jacobs. He was part of the “Radio Stimulus” panel and shared the floor with some great broadcasters. Chuck McCoy from Rogers said “Radio is still the best delivery device out there.” Mike McVay commented “I have never been so excited about the future of radio as I am today. However as broadcasters we have to rethink our strategy and provide stronger benefits to both listeners and advertisers.” Humble Howard got the crowd laughing with his stick, but did offer two jems of advice “It takes 100,000 hours of time to hone your craft and become great at something, but how can young broadcasters do that when overnights and even nights are voice tracked.” His suggestion “Pay $75 a night to a young broadcaster to do your overnight show live. That way they get their experience and the radio station also benefits.” Grant Robertson a financial analysist for the Globe and Mail said “Radio is a lot like the railways. It’s not sexy like the airlines but it makes money.” He went to say “Radio is viewed by most on Bay street as an investment that provides a consistent return. The challange for radio moving forward is to ensure that the margins are there.”
The number of delegates appears to up on previous years which is also a good sign. Then again it could be that is feels that way because many of the sessions have been held in rooms that are too small for the number of delegates attending the sessions.
Digital Ad Revenue to Rocket for Local TV, Radio March 9, 2010 -By Katy Bachman
The growth of digital advertising revenue for local TV and radio will outpace overall ad spending for those media between 2009 and 2014 according to a BIA/Kelsey forecast released Tuesday (March 9). Digital revenue from multiplatform, mobile and Web, will grow at a 17.8 percent compound annual rate to $2 billion compared to total ad revenue, which will grow at a CAGR of 2.8 percent to $34.3 billion. By 2014, local TV digital ad revenue will reach $1.2 billion and represent 6.5 percent of TV’s total $18.3 billion in revenue, up from 3.1 percent in 2009. Radio digital revenue will reach $0.8 billion representing 5 percent of radio’s $16 billion up from 2.9 percent in 2009. “Broadcasters must evolve to participate in more areas of the media ecosystem,” said Rick Ducey, chief strategy officer for BIA/Kelsey. “This means developing the right multiplatform and multiple revenue stream strategies which in turn requires new workflow, partnerships, business models and resources.” Though the BIA/Kelsey forecast shows total revenue increases for both radio and TV between 2009 and 2014, both media are still playing catchup to 2008 when TV revenue totaled $20.6 billion and radio totaled $16.8 billion. In 2010, TV revenue is expected to increase 4.3 percent to $16.8 billion with digital revenue hitting $600 million, a 20 percent increase. Radio revenue will inch up 1.5 percent to $13.9 billion, with digital revenue increasing 25 percent to $500 million.
Listener Driven Radio And Byrnes Media Partner
To Give Canadian Listeners A Unique Programming Voice
Listener Driven Radio (LDR) has formed a partnership alliance with Byrnes Media to launch a unique new software program which gives listeners in Canada greater control over the music they want to hear.
Built on the concept of “crowd-sourcing,” listeners can use Internet access, their iPhone or smart-phone to provide input into what plays next on the air. LDR offers the audience a voice in shaping the overall music output of a brand regardless of whether there is a live personality, streamed online or a voice tracked show.
LDR’s innovative software enables listener real time interaction via mobile, widget (embeddable on any site) or a station website, along with social networks including Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and Twitter. Listener responses drive the on-air, digital platform or streamed programming through a series of specialized music scheduling parameters set up by the station’s program director.
Byrnes Media and Listener Driven Radio are announcing the local release of the new Listener Driven Radio software, enabling Canadian broadcasters to become “crowdcasters.” Using LDR, listeners can effectively become “music directors” and engage with their favorite music radio brands wherever they go.
Chris Byrnes, President of Byrnes Media said,”Listener Driven Radio is the first application that makes listeners real-time collaborators with a radio program director. LDR generates revenue and enables the radio station to take advantage of social network tools. This is a win-win opportunity for radio and the audience.”
Byrnes continues, “What’s even better in today’s cost-conscience environment is that our customizable LDR software components integrate cross platform sales and campaigns while embedding them in various touch points of the software’s interaction with listeners.”
LDR architect Daniel Anstandig added, “This is a new way of programming radio and growing your brand-community. It’s the first time that the power of what we call ‘crowdsourcing,’ or engaging the opinions and votes of your station’s reach and plugging it into your programming, has been harnessed this way for radio and its programmers. We are confident that this new feedback loop will benefit listeners and shareholders alike.”
The unique widget based software within the LDR technology allows a broadcaster to constantly absorb listeners’ input, song votes, comments on music and automatically adapt programming output as listener input is received. LDR does this while instantly feeding social networks like Twitter to create increased listener tune in.
Listener Driven Radio is a timely new digitally diverse model for analog and digital radio in Canada paralleling the local industry’s launch and development of a variety of formats on digital platforms, while also strengthening their AM and FM services.
The company has generated high U.S. broadcast industry response since its launch in 2009. LDR triggered an immediate fully subscribed first phase roll-out, positively impacting the North American, U.K. and European radio markets in a short period of time. Initial sign-ups include Citadel Media, CBS Radio, Border Media, Vox Communications, and several European broadcasters.
Canadian broadcasters can arrange a personal webinar LDR INTRODUCTION and demonstration by contacting BYRNES MEDIA principals CHRIS BYRNES at chris@byrnesmedia.com, DAVE CHARLES at dave@byrnesmedia.com, Cell 1 289 242 8313 or LEE CORNELL at LDR cornell@listenerdrivenradio.com
In the early days of Twitter, I used to send out short updates just to keep everyone in the loop since so much was happening. It’s been a while, but you signed up for short, monthly updates from Twitter so we thought it was time to start sharing more information. We’ve had quite a year. If you haven’t visited in a while, we’d like to invite you to come have a look at http://twitter.com — we’ve been busy!
Growing Up
In the course of a year, registered Twitter accounts have grown more than 1,500% and our team has grown 500%. Recently, we hired our 140th employee! His name is Aaron and he’s an engineer focused on building internal tools to help promote productivity, communication, and support within our company. We celebrated with a little dance party.
Features of Note
Some features of note that we released over the course of a year include the ability to create lists, quickly spread information with a retweet button, and an easier way to activate your mobile phone to work with Twitter over SMS. We also built a new mobile web site that looks and works much better on smart phones.
Feeling Inspired
By working together during critical times when others needed help, sharing important information that otherwise might not make the news, and inventing new and interesting ways to use Twitter, you’ve shown us that Twitter is more than a triumph of technology — it is a triumph of humanity. Projects like Fledgling and Hope140 were inspired by you.
Chirp!
While there may only be 140 full-time employees working at the Twitter offices, there are thousands of dedicated platform developers who have now created more than 70,000 registered Twitter applications creating variety and utility for all of us. We’ll be gathering this spring at Chirp, our first ever official Twitter developer conference.
Thanks,
Biz Stone, Co-founder (@Biz)
Twitter, Inc.
I’ve often said the best radio stations are the ones that feature creative excellence in their commercials and station imaging. One of radio’s great strengths is its ability to create images that and brands that are memorable. David Ogilvy was such a creative champion.
Measured by his creativity, Ogilvy was most famous for the man in the Hathaway shirt, his pitch for Rolls Royce (“At 60 mph, the loudest noise in this Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”), and his clever insight to market Dove soap as 1/4 cleansing cream.
But beyond the ads, this elegant and eclectic Brit pioneered consumer research, direct marketing–and built an industry-leading juggernaut, Ogilvy & Mather.
http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/07/21/david-ogilvys-best-advice-for-business/
Gene Chenault, who with his business partner, Bill Drake, reshaped rock radio in the 1960s with prepackaged programming that delivered more music and fewer commercials to hundreds of stations, creating the automated format common today, died on Feb. 23 in Tarzana, Calif. He was 90 and lived in Encino, Calif.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/arts/music/04chenault.html?ref=obituaries
One Week Until Digital Strategies Conference in Toronto!
Don’t Miss! Discount Rate Ends Monday, March 8
Top Line-up of speakers including Facebook’s Louise Clements to Keynote at Digital Strategies Conference; Stellar event focused on marketing products and services in the Digital Age. The event is being held at the spectacular Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, March 10, 2010, during Canadian Music Week, and designed for start-ups and Fortune 500 companies alike. Event topics focus on building digital marketing strategies that work using the latest tools from social media to online video to SEO/SEM to mobile. Join speakers and attendees from top companies including Pandora, comScore, Heavy.com, AOL, BigChampagne, MetaCafe, Havas Digital, Mojiva and more for high networking and and top sessions on the future of digital marketing. Make smart investment decisions with limited marketing dollars. For more information, please contact Jay Baage at jay@digitalmediawire.com.